The twenty first century has been known for the boom of technology. We have turned a blue bird into an app called Twitter, photo albums into Instagram, pictures of you into selfies on Snapchat, and newspaper announcements into facebook. It’s really quite amazing what mankind has accomplished, but as with everything, there’s a negative that came with it.

Homework has become more difficult to do without stopping for what you say is only going to be three minutes but becomes an hour of scrolling through your various feeds. I take procrastination to a whole new level. Once I’ve started, it’s hard to stop. There is also the aspect of social media that gives you FOMO (fear of missing out), which is never fun. Not to mention, a lot of the time you end up looking at a picture of a friend that they just posted on instagram rather than actually looking at them in person even though they’re sitting right in front of you. This is why I chose to say adios to my social media apps, and you should too.

“Oh look, Jessie and Patrick are in a relationship! Even though I barely know either of them, I think I’m going to stalk their Facebooks to see cute photos of them together.” Aw, the struggle is real. One look at your social media, and you’re hooked. Most of the time, I can’t even bring myself to get through one math problem without scrolling through my feed “just one more time.” Once I deleted my “love of my life” folder on my phone, I’ve actually been able to get my homework done much more efficiently. All the problems of procrastination has been brought down several notches and I have been able to finish in a timely matter.

“Why didn’t Amber and Kelly invite me to that concert they just posted 600 seconds of on their snap stories? Did I do something wrong? Why are they having fun without me while I sit on my couch with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s binge watching How I Met Your Mother?” FOMO is one of the worst feelings. I’m not one to be jealous of people, but when I am sitting at home while my friends send me Snapchats of all them together, I can’t help but wonder what the heck I’m doing with my life. Without the constant reminder that I couldn’t hang with people due to homework or just wasn’t up to leaving my couch, I have had a weight lifted off my shoulders.

“OMG! I just reached a one hundred day streak with Kelly! We also have the pink heart, and we’re sending selfies to each other while sitting right next to one another.” When I had my various applications, Snapchat was a pain in the neck. I felt the need to scroll through my twenty unopened snaps, open them, reply to each individually, and do it all again to maintain my “snap streaks”. I would even respond to them with a creepy, candid picture of the person who I was sending it to. It was very common for me to be sitting on my phone rather than actually talking to my friend sitting next to me. I am now forced to talk to people in person, and I’m enjoying it much more than the strain in my eyes from staring at my phone screen.

Weight has been lifted, homework is completed, and I am actually interacting with people. I feel like I have been cleansed. I just wish I had taken the opportunity earlier, and when you do it, you will too.